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First cup of the day. I have never had a Pu’erh tea before so I was excited to try it. Thanks Awkward Soul for sending me this sample.

I did notice a odd salty smell from the dry leaf and liquor, but the ginger was the most prevalent. The liquor it made was a deep dark velvety red….yumm. It tastes very earthy and smooth with a nice and not over powering flavor of zingy ginger. It’s like black tea, but without the sharpness and astringency it can have. I defiantly must try some other pu’erh in the future.

P.S. I know i should have done a blanch, but I didn’t cause I didn’t think it was needed…

Specifics
Water:28OZ
Pot:Glass
Sweetener: almost 1/2 tbs in a 12oz mug
Leaf: 2 1/2 tsp

The last of the Tea samples. I can’t wait till they open so I can buy some!

This made a nice brownish liquor and it smelled like a good chai tea. The bag has a lot of spices and ginger bits mixed in……YAY! The taste is a really smooth, and not overpowering spicy flavors. The ginger was the most pronounced in my opinion; coarse I did steep for a long period. I like the ginger taste though, it tasted kinda like spicy ginger hard candy.

I think out of all the samples, this one and the lavender Earl Grey are my favorites. I diffidently will buy some when they come out.

Overall I would recommend this tea to someone who likes lighter chais or Ginger Chais.

P.S. I mixed this with the Irish breakfast and got another decent steeping out of it.

First Tea of the day before work…. blah.

The smell of this is kinda like Liptons, but with a hint of coco. It also makes a nice reddish brown liquor. The taste is what I expected. Your basic malty black tea, but with a little ity bit of coco after taste. It is not very astringent, which is nice.

I am not going to rate it cause personally I don’t care for Irish or English breakfast teas. They are good for mixing in flavors(I put a cina disk in mine), but they are just to boring for me. It is not bad though.

Overall I would recommend this to someone who likes malty, or breakfast teas.

Second tea of the day. No, wait third.

The dry leaf smells nutty and a little bit of spice. I had a lot of chunks in it. Not sure what some of it is though. The liquor that it makes is a brownish gold color.

The taste is kinda disappointing. At first it was bland, but the I added more sweeter and that helped. It has a odd crisp carrot flavor with a light mix of nuttiness and cream(texture mostly) % almost savory flavor. A lot of the icing type of flavor is right after the sip on the tongue.

Overall it is just kinda weird and wishy/washy. Then again being that it is so chunky I might have not used enough; since it is hard to spoon it out properly. I will have to experiment.

First tea of the day. No, that is a lie. I tried to improve Aztec Fire (Teavana) buy adding hot pepper flakes. I think this could work, but I used WAAAAAAAAY to much…..my throat feels burnt.

I ordered some samples from this company thanks to Awkward Soul’s note. Glad she told me…

The smell of this dry is fresh with a light pineapple smell… quite nice. The brew smells very light and fresh as well, but I don’t smell the fruit a lot. It makes a light greenish yellow liquor as well.

The taste is a little bit disappointing. While the green tea base has a nice light, crisp grassy flavor, I hardly taste any of the fruit; cold or warm. It is really more of a light after taste that comes threw on the tongue after you have taken a breath. Then again being someone who has drank Teavana teas I might be ruined, since their fruity teas beat you into submission with their fruit flavors.

Overall, I don’t hate it. It just taste more a like a plain green tea to me. I would recommend it to white tea or green tea people to try; especially at $1.25 a sample with free shipping.

Specifics
Amount: 2 1/2 tsp
Water: 28oz
Pot: Glass
Sweetener: 1 tbs light agave per 14oz glass

Made some this morning from a previous steeping. This is becoming my comfort black tea. It taste so good with cinnamon sticks and anise mixed in with it.

I am really glad I got these free samples. I brewed this while watching Dragon Ball with my brother. I brewed it past 10, since I usually like to really steep my rooibos.

Smells like mixed berry juice! It makes sort of a cold toned pinkish red. This taster very berry, but in a different and unconventional way. must be the elder berry and currant. I liked this one more then the blood orange one.

I might buy this when it comes out.

Another tea from Awkward Soul; thanks for the sample! Brewed this before I have to go to work. It smells like those pumpkin spice candles…. yum! The little pumpkin sprinkles are cut as well. The smell of this brew is reminds my of pumpkin spice. The black tea is nice, and not astringent. It is not as spicy has I have hoped, but it is still good. More sweet and pleasant, not over powering flavor.

Overall I would recommend this tea to someone who likes pumpkin pie spice, and doesn’t like really strong chai’s.

P.S. This is one of Weebl’s songs. I….. can’t………stop……listening…………to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=4M6qAMMqFhI&NR=1

I got this in a trade with Awkward Soul. I am glad I got some, since I don’t see it on the website anymore.

Don’t have time to write a long note at the moment, but I really like it. Very creamy taste and the mango helps and adds a nice after taste.

I would recommend this to white tea people and chamomile lovers.

P.S. I was able to get a second steep.

Rant: Ok, I bought this tea originally to trade with, along with a few others. I was going to the mall in Orlando that weekend so I decided to buy some teas from Teavana at the store. That way I could get 1oz of tea flavors versus having to buy a minimum of 2oz online, which I can understand; also this way I could get more flavors for the same price. When I went into the store I notice that they had made it larger, which was nice since it was crampt before. As always me and my freind walked around, tried some samples, looked at the pretty teaware, ect. I haven’t been there alot, but they seemed more car sales-y… more pushy. I don’t blame them though(I will say why later). So when I made my way up to the counter, the first flavor I wanted the standard 2oz. However, when I wanted 1oz of the next flavor, they said that I had to buy a minimum of 2oz of each flavor. I was shocked and annoyed! I mean I get why it is like that online, but in the STORE!? It just doesn’t make any sense to me, and really left me feeling sour. I kinda wonder if all Teavanas are like this. I over heard the employ that served me tell the cashier, who I think was in charge, that she told me I had to buy 2oz(I have ninja ears). I also noticed that at the bottom of the receipt it said that I was sold a total of 4 units….. for 2 different 2oz teas… 1oz=1 unit. The reason they are like this though, is because in order for employees to get hours they have to sell a certain number of units or bring in around $50. If they don’t they get little to no hours. That being said, this policy completely contradicts their mission statement. They are kinda like a friend that you slowly start to realize isn’t the best kind of friend you want, but they introduced you to other new and better people. In this case, they introduced loose teas to me, but I have found them to be a little mediocre and to full of themselves. I will buy from them in the future, but not anytime soon…

Tea Time:
The smell of this tea is very… interesting. Kinda musky, chocolaty, and coconuty. The brew it makes is a deep and nice yellow. The taste is kinda weird, but in a good way. I haven’t tried a lot of oolongs so it is hard to compare it or know what kind of oolong they used. It taste very coco/chicoryish with coconut. I don’t taste much floral notes though. I will say though that it has a kinda stuffy air and taste about it.

So far I have been able to get 2 steepings out of it, and will see if I can get a third. Even if I can’t get a third, at least you can get two which makes the price not seem as steep.

Specifics
water: 28oz
Amount: 2 1/2 tsp
Sweetener: 1 1/2 tbsp
Pot: Glass

Overall I would recommend this to someone who likes coconut or chocolate type of flavors.